Tuyere



1939. K. STEINBACHER 2.178.654

TUYERE Filed July 30, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENT OR.

BY fiZZ/i fizkkzbackei M I ATTORNEYS.

Nov. 7, 1939. K. STEINBACHER TUYERE Filed July 50, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2IIIII/I/f INV ENT OR. BY fIZZ/Z .izarzbac/Ler,

Patented Nov. 7, 1939 Karl Steinbacher, Portsmouth, ()hio ApplicationJuly 30, 1938, Serial No. 222,103

1 Claim.

This invention relates to a new and improved tuyere and moreparticularly to a water-cooled tuyre of the type used in blast furnacesor the like.

The iron blast furnace is a vertical shaft, generally circular in ahorizontal cross-section, and provided at the top with means forreceiving a charge of ore, coke and limestone; provided at the bottomwith apertures for the withdrawal of slag and iron, and also provided ata point above the slag line with a plurality of openings into which arefitted watercooled nozzles known as tuyeres. These tuyeres are spaced atequal intervals around the furnace, and form the points or entry of thewind or hot air blast blown into the furnace for the combustion of coke.Researches of various investigators have demonstrated that thecombustion of coke occurs relatively close to the nose of the tuyere,generally speaking, within a distance of about forty inches, thehorizontal cross-section of the area Within which combustion takes placebeing approximately circular or slightly elliptical, with the long axisin the direction of the flow of the blast in a horizontal plane.

Into the void created by the gasification of coke in front of thetuyeres fall the coke and molten material immediately above, and thisprocess causes the descent of stock in the furnace from the top to thebottom.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improvedtuyere for blast furnaces or the like.

It is a further object to provide a tuyere which discharges the blast insuch manner as to enlarge the horizontal cross-section of the effectivecombustion space in front of the tuyere.

It is also an object to provide a tuyere having a horizontally elongateddischarge opening with a restricted portion intermediate the ends of theopening.

It is an additional object to provide a tuyere which will cause acombustion zone such as will facilitate the descent of material in thefurnace and minimize or prevent the bridging of material which resultsin the condition known as hanging.

Other and further objects will appear as the description proceeds.

I have shown a preferred embodiment of my invention in the accompanyingdrawings, in which- Figure l is a horizontal'section through one form ofmy improved tuyere, the section being taken through the long dimensionof the tuyere I passage;

Figure 2 is an elevation of the tuyere as seen from the right of Figure1;

Figure 3 is a cross-section takenon line AA of Figures 1 and 2;

Figure 4 is a second cross-section taken on line BB of Figures 1 and 2;

Figure 5 is a sectional view similar to Figure 1 but showing a straighttuyre; and

Figure 6 is an elevation of the tuyre shown in Figure 5, as viewed fromthe right or left.

The tuyre is preferably formed by means of a casting operation, and maybe made of copper or of suitable metallic alloys commonly used fortuyeres of this character. The outer tuyere wall 5 is circular incross-section on line B-B as shown in Figure 4, while it is oval incross-section on line A-A as shown in Figure 3. This wall 5 is shown ascarrying the inner corrugations or fins 6 which serve to facilitate heattransfer between the cooling fluid and the outer wall of the tuyere. Thetuyere is provided with a cavity 7 for carrying this cooling fiuid, thecavity being provided with ports 8, 9 and ill to which suitable inletand outlet pipes may be connected for introducing and withdrawing thecooling fluid.

The inner wall H of the tuyere is circular in cross-section at its lowerend l2. This wall H is generally oval in shape on the plane B-B as shownin Figure 4. When it reaches the plane AA it is approximately the formof a figure 8 in cross-section, as shown clearly in Figure 3. The formof passage shown in Figure 3 also continues to the discharge face iii ofthe tuyere as shown in Figure 2.

It will be apparent from the figure of the drawings that the passagethrough the tuyere for the hot blast or wind gradually changes from acircular cross-section to an elongated or oval cross-section and fromsuch cross-section to the figure 8 of the discharge end. A substantialportion of the passage is of figure 8 cross-section, as will be apparentfrom Figure 2, so that by the time the blast leaves the discharge faceof the tuyre the turbulence caused by the variation in cross-sectionalarea and form will be substantially reduced and the blast issues as apair of interconnecting and slightly overlapping columns of air underpressure. The restriction intermediate the ends of the cross-section ofthe passage, which serves to give it the figure 8 form in crossseotion,is thus effective in producing a discharge column which is distinctlydifferent from the column discharged merely from a flattened elongatedorifice.

The discharge area of the tuyre is substantially identical in area withthe circular opening which has heretofore been in general use in suchtuyeres. It therefore serves to discharge the same quantity of air asthe usual tuyere at the same velocity. I have found that the improvedfigure 8 form of passage is very materially more effective than merelyan oval or flattened passage. I have found that with such oval orfiattened passages a preponderance of air passes along the central axisof such passage and the objects of my invention are not attained. Inorder to prevent the preponderance of air passing along the central axisof the tuyere, I reduce the vertical heighth of the central portion ofthe tuyere by the restrictions shown, which serve to produce the figure8 form of discharge orifice. The outer shell of the tuyere issubstantially unchanged in shape, the water space being increased at thetop and bottom of the tuyere and decreased at the sides of the tuyre.This maintenance of the external shape is desirable in order to avoid aflat upper surface which might render the tuyre likely to be puncturedby globules of molten iron coming in contact therewith.

The invention has been described both in connection with an angular typeof tuyere, such as shown in Figures 1 to 4, and also in connection witha standard straight tuyere as shown in Figures 5 and 6. It will beunderstood that the invention is independent of the particular form oftuyre and may be applied to these or other forms of tuyeres.

While I have shown one preferred form of my invention this is capable ofchange and modification to meet varying conditions and requirements andI contemplate such variations as come within the spirit and scope of theappended claim.

I claim:

A water-cooled tuyre having a passage therethrough, the inlet end of thepassage being substantially circular in cross-section and the dischargeend of the passage being substantially figure 8 shaped in cross-section,the inlet circular cross-section gradually merging with the figure 8shaped cross-section of the discharge portion of the passage.

KARL STEINBACHER.

